Vikingdom opens in the United States, October 4th 2013

Vikingdom is a film by Yusry Abdul Halim, of KRU studios, in which I play a supporting role. It is not my place to review it, since I played the role of Warick the Wise and my words would not seem to be free of influence, therefore. However, I would like to point your way to two American reviews, that have appeared in the last two days.

The first is from Slant Magazine:

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/vikingdom

The second is a syndicated review, which first appeared in the Village Voice, yesterday, but has now appeared in OC Weekly, and City Pages. No doubt it will spread further in the next few days.

http://www.citypages.com/2013-10-02/movies/vikingdom-review/

Both reviews are favourable, in general and give some insight into how the film fits into the context of prior works. What I found most interesting about these reviews is that Vikingdom is being received much more intelligently and open-mindedly in the United States, than in its homeland of Malaysia. It very much seems as if the Malaysian cinema going public is a bit narrow in its views of what it will accept whole-heartedly, from a Malaysian director. They seem to have certain conventional expectations which Vikingdom transgresses.

For those of you living in America, Vikingdom has a limited release on October 4^th 2013. In many theatres it is just for one night, it seems...so if you want to catch it in the cinema, October 4^th is the night to do it. For those of you in or near New York, Vikingdom is showing at the AMC theatre, 34^th Street, for one full week’s run. For others who are not near any of the cinemas in the listing to follow (which covers 21 cities across the USA), Vikingdom may be downloaded from iTunes, from October 4^th 2013, for enjoyment at home.

http://www.vikingdommovie.com/

To set the film in context for you: Malaysia has never made a film like Vikingdom, before. It is the first attempt at an internationalized, epic action adventure. It is also a big step forward on what has been achieved, at any time, by a Malaysian production company in the past. This production was a co-production with Epic Pictures of Hollywood. Notably, this is also the first time a Malaysian film has ever been shown in US cinemas, at all. So, it is a major achievement, in that sense.

If you get to see it, you may not recognize me easily. I play Warick the Wise, but I am heavily disguised. I have a bushy brown and grey beard, long grey hair, period costume, a bow and arrow, and look utterly unlike my modern self. Even my own wife didn’t recognize me, after I had changed into my Viking get-up one day, on set. So, if you want to be sure who I am playing...just follow the name of my character: Warick the Wise.

I do hope you get to see the film. Thanks.

For those of you living outside of the USA, distribution has been arranged in around 85 countries. Most of those appear to open on or around the 16th December, 2013. The openings so far confirmed are: Thailand, October 10th; Japan, December 15th; and Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden December 16th. I will notify you of further release dates, once I become aware of them. Thank you.

As for the Malaysian release on September 12th...Vikingdom was no.2 at the box office, in its first weekend of release, which is a pretty good showing. It finished up its run in the top 20% or so of box office, for local films, which is respectable.

Written by Valentine Cawley

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Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

Hollywood is dying. The signs are clear. All you have to do is to have had the misfortune to watch Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. I did. I wish I could get those hours of life back - for I sure did waste them.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is a very distinguished movie. It distinguishes itself by being, in fact, the worst film I have ever seen. Since enduring it, I have tried very hard to recall anything as bad. Even Japanese Godzilla type nonsense is not as bad, for at least the special effects are amusing, in their ineptness. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, is just inept on every level that it is possible for a story to be inept. The plot is drivel. The characterization doesn't even begin. The acting is so "cardboard cutout" that I began to wonder why, in fact, cardboard cutouts were not, in fact, employed instead of Shia La Boeuf and Megan Fox, both of whom showed little evidence of acting ability. However, it is difficult to know where to lay the blame: was it the director for not directing them...or the editor/director team, for choosing to show them at their worst?

My favourite parts (for all the wrong reasons) were when Shia "I won't trouble you by actually acting" La Boeuf, went into a strange twitching fit every time he had messages from his splinter of the Allspark (I know...sounds like nonsense, doesn't it? Because, of course, it is...) The twitching was so overdone, each time, so monstrously overacted that it was abundantly clear that neither actor nor director had the remotest idea of how real people behave. I shall remember that twitching for a long time to come.

Michael Bay is famed for not directing - he just blows things up. He is a man who doesn't make movies, he makes money. However, that is why Hollywood loves him: Hollywood exists not to make movies, but to make money. If Hollywood could make more money not making movies, but just pretending that they do - they would stop making movies immediately. Oh, dear, they have already thought of that: Michael Bay's work is the evidence.

This "film"...well, actually, "series of explosions", distinguished itself in another way: it put me to sleep TWICE, despite the noise and the chaos. Perhaps it was the repetitiveness of it all that did it. I actually fell to sleep TWICE in the final 30 minutes explosive finale. It was the sheer dullness of those dull, seen them before, robots, fighting each other, in dull, seen them before, ways. It was the most boring half an hour I have ever suffered in a cinema.

Sadly, this "film" is not the great failure it deserves to be. Indeed it did 583 million dollars at the box office (in the US, I believe) in the first 5 days. Thus, the world's film audiences are damned to receive a deluge of such nonsense, in the future. That which makes most money, is that which will be most copied.

The big question is: why does a film as dire and dull as Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, do so well at the box office?

My only conclusion is that the human race, itself, is in decline. People have lost any vestige of taste or discernment that they once had - and now, they really do not know what a good film is. They don't recognize deficiencies of plot, characterization, acting, or directing. If it blows up, is brightly coloured and moves fast, they think it is great. The global film audience is basically at the level of a toddler, when it comes to film comprehension: they are excited by something visually stunning, even if it is mind-numbing as well. They don't notice their minds being numbed...because that is the permanent state of them.

I see little hope for an upsurge in public taste. Every passing year seems to see an incremental decline in what people are and in what they seek. A comparison of the public tastes of people in my childhood and those, now, reveals a perturbing decline. Of course, it may be Hollywood itself that is to blame by acculturating people to nonsense.

I cannot see any present mechanism that could reverse such a trend. The only thing that would work would be if Hollywood suddenly started losing money on Transformers X, or whatever it will be. Once empty "Michael Bay" type films start to lose money, then Hollywood will try something else. Oddly, people get what they deserve, in a way. If great films, with great acting and great writing and interesting premises, were the biggest films at the box office, that is exactly what Hollywood would be striving to make. So, you have the power to change the situation: seek out the best films that you can - and avoid the trash, and urge others to avoid the trash, too. In time, there may be a change...and great films may once more become dominant.
(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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